Generating interactive messages with entity assets

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for retrieving assets associated with branding for an entity, generating an interactive message comprising at least a first mechanical object, updating the first mechanical object with one or more of the assets associated with branding for the entity, and sending the generated interactive message to a plurality of computing devices. The systems and methods further provided for receiving from at least a subset of the plurality of computing devices, usage data associated with interaction by each computing device of the subset of computing devices with the interactive message, generating metrics for the interactive message from the usage data for the interactive message, and generating at least one report based on the metrics for the interactive message.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/303,632, filed Jun. 3, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/428,224, filed May 31, 2019, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 11,063,889, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/682,480, filed Jun. 8, 2018, each ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

A content sharing platform may receive millions of messages from usersdesiring to share media content such as audio, images, and video betweenuser devices (e.g., mobile devices, personal computers, etc.). The mediacontent of these messages may be associated with a common geolocation, acommon time period, a common event, and so forth. Conventionally, afirst user sends a message to a second user or to several users, and thesecond users or several users can view the message. The second user orseveral users may then create a new message and send the new message tothe first user or other users.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate exampleembodiments of the present disclosure and should not be considered aslimiting its scope.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored in adatabase of a messaging server system, according to some exampleembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication for communication.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of a method, according tosome example embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of sharing interactivemessages, according to some example embodiments.

FIGS. 7-12 illustrate example graphical user interfaces, according tosome example embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of sharing interactivemessages, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a softwarearchitecture that may be installed on a machine, according to someexample embodiments.

FIG. 15 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine, in theform of a computer system, within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods described herein relate to generating interactivemessages with entity assets. As explained above, typically in amessaging system, a first user creates and sends a message to a seconduser. The second user receives the message from the first user and thencreates and sends a new message back to the first user, or to otherusers. Example embodiments allow for interactive messaging that allowusers to interact with each other via an interactive message. Forexample, a first user may create a message using personal media content,such as capturing a video of himself. The first user may send themessage to a second user. The second user may view the message that hasthe first user's personal media content and then add her own personalmedia content, such as a video of herself. The second user may send themessage with the first user's personal media content and the seconduser's personal media content to a third user, back to the second user,or to several users. The third user may view the message that has thefirst user's personal media content and the second user's personal mediacontent and then add her own personal media content, such as a video ofherself. The third user may then send the message to one or more otherusers. In this way, the message is passed from one user to the next andeach user is able to contribute to the message. These asynchronousexperiences can be captured in an interactive message.

Example embodiments further allow for generation of interactive messagescomprising assets associated with branding for an entity. For example, asporting goods company may include a logo, product, or other brandinginformation within an interactive message. In one example, the assetsappear in the background or other areas in the interactive message. Inanother example, the assets may appear as part of a mechanical object ofthe message (e.g., a virtual mechanical object). For example, aninteractive message may be a game where mechanical objects, such asshoes or a soccer ball, appear in the interactive message. To interactwith the game, a user may move the shoes or soccer ball using a touchscreen of a computing device, using a gesture (e.g., swipe, etc.),changing the position of the computing device (e.g., tilting, turning,etc.), using an expression or physical movement (e.g., by smiling,moving his head, moving his eyebrows, etc.). In this way, user interactswith one or more branded mechanical objects in the message.

Example embodiments further allow for capturing usage data from aplurality of computing devices for the interactive message andgenerating metrics for the interactive message from usage data. In oneexample, usage data includes data associated with interaction with oneor more mechanical objects of the interactive message, the number ofcomputing devices to which the interactive message was sent by eachcomputing device, and so forth. In one example, metrics include how manycomputing devices to which the interactive messages were sent, how manytimes the interactive message was sent back and forth between one ormore computing devices, and so forth. One or more reports may begenerated based on the metrics for an interactive message.

An interactive message may be a predefined message (e.g., videos,images, etc.) with a plurality of objects associated with differentareas or characters in the interactive message for which users may addpersonal content (e.g., band members, game players, locations in ascene, etc.). For example, an interactive message may be a video of aband playing that has an object for each band member. Users may be ableto add an image or video of their face to the face for each band member.An interactive message may comprise a template for adding assets fromone or more entities to the interactive message to appear in theinteractive message and/or as part of one or more mechanical objects inthe interactive message.

Before describing further detail, FIG. 6 is described to illustrate anexample of sharing interactive messages, according to some exampleembodiments. For example, there may be a number of users, such as P1(602), P2 (604), P3 (606), through n (608) users. A first user device610 for user P1 generates an interactive message using input from userP1 (e.g., text, audio, video, image, etc.). User P1 may indicate 612that he wishes to send the interactive message to at least user P2. Thefirst user device 610 sends the interactive message to a second userdevice 614 associated with user P2. The second user device 614 rendersand displays the interactive message. The second user device 614generates content, using input from user P2 (e.g., text, audio, video,image, etc.), to add to the interactive message 616. User P2 mayindicate 618 that she wishes to send the interactive message 616 to athird user device 620 associated with user P3. The third user device 620renders and displays the interactive message 622. The third user device620 generates content, using input from user P3 (e.g., text, audio,video, image, etc.), to add to the interactive message 622. User P3 mayindicate 624 that she wishes to send the interactive message 622 to afourth user device 626 associated with user n. The fourth user device626 renders and displays the interactive message 628. The fourth userdevice 626 generates content, using input from user n (e.g., text,audio, video, image, etc.), to add to the interactive message 628. Usern may indicate 630 that she wishes to send the interactive message 628to a fifth user device, and so this process may continue. Note that thisdiagram illustrates sending interactive messages in a chain (e.g., fromone user to the next user). In other example embodiments, a user maysend an interactive message to more than one user and then each of thoseusers may send the message to one or more users. Further details aboutinteractive messages may be found in application Ser. No. 15/860,397 and62/643,449 which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system 100 (e.g., amessaging system) for exchanging data (e.g., messages and associatedcontent) over a network. The networked system 100 includes multipleclient devices 110, each of which hosts a number of client applications114. Each client application 114 is communicatively coupled to otherinstances of the client application 114 and a server system 108 via anetwork 104.

The client device 110 may comprise, but is not limited to, a mobilephone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, tablet, ultrabook, netbook, laptop, multi-processor system,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronic system, gameconsole, set-top box, computer in a vehicle, wearable device, or anyother communication device that a user may utilize to access thenetworked system 100. In some embodiments, the client device 110 maycomprise a display module (not shown) to display information (e.g., inthe form of user interfaces). In further embodiments, the client device110 may comprise one or more of touch screens, accelerometers,gyroscopes, cameras, microphones, global positioning system (GPS)devices, and so forth.

The client device 110 may be a device of a user that is used to createmedia content items such as video, images (e.g., photographs), andaudio, and to send and receive messages containing such media contentitems, text, and so forth, to and from other users. The client device110 may be a device of a user that is used to create and edit mediaoverlays, view and generate interactive messages, and so forth.

One or more users may be a person, a machine, or other means ofinteracting with the client device 110. In example embodiments, the usermay not be part of the system 100, but may interact with the system 100via the client device 110 or other means. For instance, the user mayprovide input (e.g., touch screen input or alphanumeric input) to theclient device 110, and the input may be communicated to other entitiesin the system 100 (e.g., third party servers, server system 108, etc.)via a network 104. In this instance, the other entities in the system100, in response to receiving the input from the user, may communicateinformation to the client device 110 via the network 104 to be presentedto the user. In this way, the user may interact with the variousentities in the system 100 using the client device 110.

The system 100 may further include a network 104. One or more portionsof the network 104 may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, avirtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wirelessLAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion ofthe public switched telephone network (PSTN), a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a WI-FI network, a WiMax network, anothertype of network, or a combination of two or more such networks.

The client device 110 may access the various data and applicationsprovided by other entities in the system 100 via a web client (e.g., abrowser, such as the Internet Explorer® browser developed by Microsoft®Corporation of Redmond, Wash. State) or one or more client applications114. The client device 110 may include one or more client applications114 (also referred to as “apps”) such as, but not limited to, a webbrowser, a messaging application, an electronic mail (email)application, an e-commerce site application, a mapping or locationapplication, a media overlay application, an interactive messagingapplication, and the like.

In some embodiments, one or more client applications 114 may be includedin a given one of the client devices 110, and configured to locallyprovide the user interface and at least some of the functionalities,with the client application 114 configured to communicate with otherentities in the system 100 (e.g., third party servers, server system108, etc.), on an as-needed basis, for data and/or processingcapabilities not locally available (e.g., to process user queries, toauthenticate a user, to verify a method of payment, etc.). Conversely,one or more client applications 114 may not be included in the clientdevice 110, and then the client device 110 may use its web browser toaccess the one or more applications hosted on other entities in thesystem 100 (e.g., third party servers, server system 108, etc.).

In one example, a client application 114 may be a messaging applicationthat allows a user to take a photograph or video, add a caption orotherwise edit the photograph or video, and then send the photograph orvideo to another user. In one example, the message may be ephemeral andbe removed from a receiving user device after viewing or after apredetermined amount of time (e.g., 10 seconds, 24 hours, etc.). Anephemeral message refers to a message that is accessible for atime-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be a text, an image, avideo, and other such content that may be stitched together inaccordance with embodiments described herein. The access time for theephemeral message may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, theaccess time may be a default setting or a setting specified by therecipient. Regardless of the setting technique, the message istransitory.

The messaging application may further allow a user to create a galleryor message collection. A gallery may be a collection of photos andvideos which may be viewed by other users “following” the user's gallery(e.g., subscribed to view and receive updates in the user's gallery). Inone example, the gallery may also be ephemeral (e.g., lasting 24 hours,lasting for a duration of an event (e.g., during a music concert,sporting event, etc.), or lasting another predetermined time).

An ephemeral message may be associated with a message durationparameter, the value of which determines an amount of time that theephemeral message will be displayed to a receiving user of the ephemeralmessage by the client application 114. The ephemeral message may befurther associated with a message receiver identifier and a messagetimer. The message timer may be responsible for determining the amountof time the ephemeral message is shown to a particular receiving useridentified by the message receiver identifier. For example, theephemeral message may only be shown to the relevant receiving user for atime period determined by the value of the message duration parameter.

In another example, the messaging application may allow a user to storephotographs and videos and create a gallery that is not ephemeral andthat can be sent to other users. For example, a user may assemblephotographs and videos from a recent vacation to share with friends andfamily.

The server system 108 may provide server-side functionality via thenetwork 104 (e.g., the Internet or a wide area network (WAN)) to one ormore client devices 110 and/or one or more third party servers (notshown). The server system 108 may include an application programminginterface (API) server 102, an application server 112, a messagingapplication server 116, a media content processing system 118, and asocial network system 122, which may each be communicatively coupledwith each other and with one or more data storage(s), such asdatabase(s) 120.

The server system 108 may be a cloud computing environment, according tosome example embodiments. The server system 108, and any serversassociated with the server system 108, may be associated with acloud-based application, in one example embodiment.

The one or more database(s) 120 may be storage devices that storeinformation such as untreated media content, original media content fromusers (e.g., high-quality media content), processed media content (e.g.,media content that is formatted for sharing with client devices 110 andviewing on client devices 110), context data related to a media contentitem, context data related to a user device (e.g., computing or clientdevice 110), media overlays, media overlay smart widgets or smartelements, user data, user device information, media content (e.g., videoand images), media content data (e.g., data associated with video andimages), computing device context data, serialized data, session dataitems, interactive message usage data, interactive message metrics data,and so forth. The one or more databases 120 may further storeinformation related to third party servers, third party applications,client devices 110, client applications 114, users, and so forth.

The one or more database(s) 120 may include cloud-based storage externalto the server system 108 (e.g., hosted by one or more third-partyentities external to the server system 108). While the storage devicesare shown as database(s) 120, it is to be understood that the system 100may access and store data in storage devices such as databases 120, blobstorages, and other types of storage methods.

The system 100 may further include one or more third party servers (notshown). The one or more third party servers may include one or morethird party application(s). The one or more third party application(s),executing on the third party server(s), may interact with the serversystem 108 via API server 102 via a programmatic interface provided bythe API server 102. For example, one or more of the third partyapplications may request and utilize information from the server system108 via the API server 102 to support one or more features or functionson a web site hosted by the third party or an application hosted by thethird party. The third party website or application, for example, mayprovide functionality that is supported by relevant functionality anddata in the server system 108.

Accordingly, each client application 114 is able to communicate andexchange data with other client applications 114 and with the serversystem 108 via the network 104. The data exchanged between clientapplications 114, and between a client application 114 and the serversystem 108, includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) aswell as payload data (e.g., text, audio, video, or other multimediadata).

The server system 108 provides server-side functionality via the network104 to a particular client application 114. While certain functions ofthe system 100 are described herein as being performed by either aclient application 114 or by the server system 108, it will beappreciated that the location of certain functionality either within theclient application 114 or within the server system 108 is a designchoice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initiallydeploy certain technology and functionality within the server system108, but to later migrate this technology and functionality to theclient application 114 where a client device 110 has a sufficientprocessing capacity.

The server system 108 supports various services and operations that areprovided to the client application 114. Such operations includetransmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generatedby the client application 114. This data may include message content,client device information, geolocation information, media annotation andoverlays, message content persistence conditions, social networkinformation, live event information, date and time stamps, media content(e.g., video and images), and media content data (e.g., data associatedwith video and images), interactive message usage data, as examples.Data exchanges within the networked system 100 are invoked andcontrolled through functions available via user interfaces (UIs) of theclient application 114.

In the server system 108, the API server 110 is coupled to, and providesa programmatic interface to, the application server 112. The applicationserver 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server 124, whichfacilitates access to the one or more database(s) 120 in which is storeddata associated with messages processed by the application server 112.

The API server 102 receives and transmits message data (e.g., commandsand message payloads) between the client device 110 and the applicationserver 112. Specifically, the API server 102 provides a set ofinterfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queriedby the client application 114 in order to invoke functionality of theapplication server 112. The API server 102 exposes various functionssupported by the application server 112, including account registration;login functionality; the sending of messages, via the application server112, from a particular client application 114 to another clientapplication 114; the sending of media files (e.g., images or video) froma client application 114 to the messaging application server 116, forpossible access by another client application 114; the setting of acollection of media data (e.g., a gallery, story, message collection, ormedia collection); the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of aclient device 110; the retrieval of such collections; the retrieval ofmessages and content; the adding of friends to and deletion of friendsfrom a social graph; the location of friends within a social graph;opening an application event (e.g., relating to the client application114); and so forth.

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including the messaging application server 116, the mediacontent processing system 118, and the social network system 122. Themessaging application server 116 implements a number of messageprocessing technologies and functions, particularly related to theaggregation and other processing of content (e.g., textual andmultimedia content) included in messages received from multipleinstances of the client application 114. The text and media content frommultiple sources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g.,called stories, galleries, or media collections). These collections arethen made available, by the messaging application server 116, to theclient application 114. Other processor- and memory-intensive processingof data may also be performed server-side by the messaging applicationserver 116, in view of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes the media content processingsystem 118, which is dedicated to performing various media contentprocessing operations, typically with respect to images or videoreceived within the payload of a message at the messaging applicationserver 116. The media content processing system 118 may access one ormore data storages (e.g., database(s) 120) to retrieve stored data touse in processing media content and to store results of processed mediacontent.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services, and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging application server 116. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 (depicted in FIG.3) within the database 120. Examples of functions and services supportedby the social network system 122 include the identification of otherusers of the networked system 100 with whom a particular user hasrelationships or whom the particular user is “following,” and also theidentification of other entities and interests of a particular user.

The messaging application server 116 may be responsible for generationand delivery of messages between users of client devices 110. Themessaging application server 116 may utilize any one of a number ofmessage delivery networks and platforms to deliver messages to users.For example, the messaging application server 116 may deliver messagesusing electronic mail (email), instant message (IM), Short MessageService (SMS), text, facsimile, or voice (e.g., Voice over IP (VoIP))messages via wired networks (e.g., the Internet), plain old telephoneservice (POTS), or wireless networks (e.g., mobile, cellular, WIFI, LongTerm Evolution (LTE), or Bluetooth).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200 illustrating further details regarding thesystem 100, according to example embodiments. Specifically, the system200 is shown to comprise the messaging client application 114 and theapplication server 112, which in turn embody a number of subsystems,namely an ephemeral timer system 202, a collection management system204, and an annotation system 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary access to content permitted by the messaging clientapplication 114 and the messaging application server 116. To this end,the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that,based on duration and display parameters associated with a message, orcollection of messages (e.g., otherwise referred to herein as mediacollections, galleries, message collections, stories, and the like),selectively display and enable access to messages and associated contentvia the messaging client application 114.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managingcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image, video, and audiodata). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages,including images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into an“event gallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be madeavailable for a specified time period, such as the duration of an eventto which the content relates. For example, content relating to a musicconcert may be made available as a “Story” for the duration of thatmusic concert. The collection management system 204 may also beresponsible for publishing an icon that provides notification of theexistence of a particular collection to the user interface of themessaging client application 114.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 208 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certainembodiments, compensation (e.g., money, non-money credits or pointsassociated with the messaging system or a third party reward system,travel miles, access to artwork or specialized lenses, etc.) may be paidto a user for inclusion of user-generated content into a collection. Insuch cases, the curation interface 208 operates to automatically makepayments to such users for the use of their content.

The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a userto annotate or otherwise modify or edit media content associated with amessage. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functionsrelated to the generation and publishing of media overlays for messagesprocessed by the networked system 100. In one example, the annotationsystem 206 operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., a filter or mediaaugmentation) to the messaging client application 114 based on ageolocation of the client device 110. In another example, the annotationsystem 206 operatively supplies a media overlay to the messaging clientapplication 114 based on other information, such as social networkinformation of the user of the client device 110. A media overlay mayinclude audio and visual content and visual effects. Examples of audioand visual content include pictures, texts, logos, animations, and soundeffects. An example of a visual effect includes color overlaying. Theaudio and visual content or the visual effects can be applied to a mediacontent item (e.g., a photo) at the client device 110. For example, themedia overlay includes text that can be overlaid on top of a photographtaken by the client device 110. In another example, the media overlayincludes an identification of a location overlay (e.g., Venice Beach), aname of a live event, or a name of a merchant overlay (e.g., BeachCoffee House). In another example, the annotation system 206 uses thegeolocation of the client device 110 to identify a media overlay thatincludes the name of a merchant at the geolocation of the client device110. The media overlay may include other indicia associated with themerchant. The media overlays may be stored in the database 120 andaccessed through the database server 124.

The annotation system 206 may further enable a user to interact with aninteractive message, such as by adding one or more media content itemsto the interactive message, as described in further detail below. In oneexample embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides a publicationplatform that allows a user or merchant to create an interactive messagewith a plurality of objects associated with the interactive message forwhich users may add personal content. For example, a designer may createa video of a rock band with various interactive objects for differentmembers of the band (a drummer, a keyboard player, a guitarist, etc.).The video of the rock band may be made available to users as aninteractive message.

In one example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides auser-based publication platform that enables users to select ageolocation on a map, and upload content associated with the selectedgeolocation. The user may also specify circumstances under which aparticular media overlay is to be offered to other users. The annotationsystem 206 generates a media overlay that includes the uploaded contentand associates the uploaded content with the selected geolocation.

In another example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides amerchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select aparticular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a biddingprocess. For example, the annotation system 206 associates the mediaoverlay of a highest bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocationfor a predefined amount of time.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram 300 illustrating data which may be storedin the database(s) 120 of the server system 108, according to certainexample embodiments. While the content of the database 120 is shown tocomprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that the data couldbe stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as an object-orienteddatabase).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table314. An entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, etc. Regardless of type, any entity regarding which theserver system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Each entity isprovided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity type identifier(not shown).

The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regardingrelationships and associations between entities. Such relationships maybe social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation ororganization), interested-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form ofmedia overlays or filters, in an annotation table 312. Annotation datamay also be referred to herein as “creative tools” or “interactivefeatures.” Annotation data may comprise predefined interactive messagesto be provided to users.

Media overlays or filters, for which data is stored within theannotation table 312, are associated with and applied to videos (forwhich data is stored in a video table 310) and/or images (for which datais stored in an image table 308). Filters, in one example, are overlaysthat are displayed as overlaid on an image or video during presentationto a recipient user. Filters may be of various types, includinguser-selected filters from a gallery of filters presented to a sendinguser by the messaging client application 114 when the sending user iscomposing a message. Other types of filters include geolocation filters(also known as geo-filters), which may be presented to a sending userbased on geographic location. For example, geolocation filters specificto a neighborhood or special location may be presented within a userinterface by the messaging client application 114, based on geolocationinformation determined by a GPS unit of the client device 110. Anothertype of filter is a data filter, which may be selectively presented to asending user by the messaging client application 114, based on otherinputs or information gathered by the client device 110 during themessage creation process. Examples of data filters include a currenttemperature at a specific location, a current speed at which a sendinguser is traveling, a battery life for a client device 110, or thecurrent time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the annotation table 312is so-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe message table 314. The entity table 302 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videosstored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.

A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story, gallery, or media collection). The creationof a particular collection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g.,any user for whom a record is maintained in the entity table 302). Auser may create a “personal story” in the form of a collection ofcontent that has been created and sent/broadcast by that user. To thisend, the user interface of the messaging client application 114 mayinclude an icon that is user-selectable to enable a sending user to addspecific content to his or her personal story.

A media or message collection may also constitute a “live story,” whichis a collection of content from multiple users that is created manually,automatically, or using a combination of manual and automatictechniques. For example, a “live story” may constitute a curated streamof user-submitted content from various locations and events. Users whoseclient devices 110 have location services enabled and are at a commonevent location at a particular time may, for example, be presented withan option, via a user interface of the messaging client application 114,to contribute content to a particular live story. The live story may beidentified to the user by the messaging client application 114, based onhis or her location. The end result is a “live story” told from acommunity perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 110 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 400,according to some embodiments, generated by a client application 114 forcommunication to a further client application 114 or the messagingapplication server 116. The content of a particular message 400 is usedto populate the message table 314 stored within the database 120,accessible by the messaging application server 116. Similarly, thecontent of a message 400 is stored in memory as “in-transit” or“in-flight” data of the client device 110 or the application server 112.The message 400 is shown to include the following components:

-   -   A message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 400.    -   A message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via        a user interface of the client device 110 and that is included        in the message 400.    -   A message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 110 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 110, and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 110 and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 110, and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message annotations 412: annotation data (e.g., media overlays        such as filters, stickers, or other enhancements) that        represents annotations to be applied to the message image        payload 406, message video payload 408, or message audio payload        410 of the message 400.    -   A message duration parameter 414: a parameter value indicating,        in seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        400 (e.g., the message image payload 406, message video payload        408, message audio payload 410) is to be presented or made        accessible to a user via the messaging client application 114.    -   A message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message 400. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of        these parameter values being associated with respect to content        items included in the content (e.g., a specific image within the        message image payload 406, or a specific video in the message        video payload 408).    -   A message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying        one or more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a        particular content item in the message image payload 406 of the        message 400 is associated. For example, multiple images within        the message image payload 406 may each be associated with        multiple content collections using identifier values.    -   A message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 406        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 420 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 110 on        which the message 400 was generated and from which the message        400 was sent.    -   A message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 110 to        which the message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of the message 400may be pointers to locations in tables within which content data valuesare stored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406may be a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table308. Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point todata stored within a video table 310, values stored within the messageannotations 412 may point to data stored in an annotation table 312,values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point to datastored in a story table 306, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 302.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of a method 500, accordingto some example embodiments. For illustrative purposes, the method 500is described with respect to the networked system 100 of FIG. 1. It isto be understood that the method 500 may be practiced with other systemconfigurations in other embodiments.

In operation 502, a server computer (e.g., via server system 108)retrieves assets associated with an entity, such as assets associatedwith branding for an entity. Example assets include logos, products,trademarks, colors, entity name(s), product name(s), or other brandinginformation. The assets may be stored as one or more files in one ormore data stores (e.g., database(s) 120).

In operation 504, the server computer generates an interactive messageusing the retrieved assets. In one example, the server computerpopulates a predefined interactive message such that the assets (e.g.,logos, products, etc.) appear within the predefined interactive message.In one example, customization of an interactive message may include oneor more icons, a title picture, a name of the interactive message, alogo, a background, or other areas of the interactive message.

In another example, the interactive message comprises one or moremechanical objects. A mechanical object is an object of the interactivemessage that may be used to interact with the message. For example, aninteractive message may be a game where mechanical objects, such asshoes or a soccer ball, appear in the interactive message. To interactwith the game, a user may move the shoes or soccer ball using a touchscreen of a computing device, by smiling, moving his head, moving hiseyebrows, and the like. In this way, user interacts with one or morebranded mechanical objects in the message. The shoes or soccer ball maybe branded using one or more of the retrieved assets. For example, alogo, brand name, entity name, or the like may appear on the shoes orsoccer ball. The server computer may update the one or more mechanicalobjects to include branding for an entity.

In operation 506, the server computer sends the generated interactivemessage to a plurality of computing devices. For example, theinteractive message may be part of an advertising campaign for theentity. The generated interactive message may be sent to computingdevices for all users of the system or to a subset of computing devicefor the users of the system (e.g., in a certain geographic location, ina certain demographic, etc.). In one example, the interactive may beavailable or viewable only for a limited time period (e.g., 24 hours,three days, a week, etc.).

In operation 508, the server computer receives usage data from at leasta subset of the plurality of computing devices, to which the interactivemessage was sent. The usage data comprises data associated withinteraction by each computing device of the subset of computing deviceswith the interactive message. In one example, the usage data associatedwith interaction by each computing device comprises data associated withinteraction with a mechanical object comprising one or more assetsassociated with branding for the entity. For example, the usage data maybe the number of time the user interacted with the mechanical object, ascore associated with use of the mechanical object, and so forth.

In another example, the usage data comprises data associated with thenumber of computing devices to which the interactive message was sent byanother computing device. For example, a first user may add a firstmedia content item (e.g., a video or image) to the interactive messageand send the interactive message to a second user. The interactivemessage with the first media content item may be rendered and displayedon a computing device of the second user and the second user may createa second media content item and add it to the interactive message. Thesecond user may send the interactive message with the first mediacontent item and the second media content item to a third user (or morethan one user), and so forth. In another example, the first user sendsthe interactive message include a game score or other achievement byinteracting with the interactive message, to the second user. Theinteractive message with the game score is rendered and displayed to onthe computing device of the second user and the second user may thensend the interactive message including a game score or other achievementto one or more other users, and so forth.

There may be many types of usage data captured by the computing devicesand sent to and received by the server computer, including, but notlimited to, the above examples, and also unique users who viewed orinteracted with the interactive message, total interactive messagesviewed, user demographic information, geographic location informationassociated with the computing device (e.g., when displaying aninteractive message, when sending an interactive message, etc.),computing device information, time spent viewing the interactivemessage, and so forth.

In operation 510, the server computer generates metrics for theinteractive message from the usage data of the interactive message. Inone example, metrics include how many computing devices to which theinteractive message was sent. In another example, the metrics includehow many times the interactive message was sent back and forth betweenone or more computing devices. Other metrics may be generated based onthe usage data described above.

The metrics may be compiled into a report to be displayed on a computingdevice and viewed by an entity associated with the branded interactivemessage, or other user. In operation 512, the server computer optionallygenerates at least one report based on the metrics for the interactivemessage.

The entity for the branded interactive message may be a first entity.The sever computer can generate further interactive messages for otherentities. For example, the server computer retrieves assets associatedwith branding for a second entity, generates the interactive messagescomprising at least the first mechanical object, updates the firstmechanical object with one or more of the assets associated withbranding for the second entity, sends the generated interactive messageto a plurality of computing devices, receives from a at least a subsetof the plurality of computing devices, usage data associated withinteraction by each computing device of the subset of computing deviceswith the interactive message, and generates metrics for the interactivemessage from the usage data for the interactive message, as explained infurther detail below. Optionally the server computer may generate atleast one report based on the metrics for the interactive message, asalso explained above.

FIGS. 7-12 illustrate example graphical user interfaces displayinginteractive messages comprising branded mechanical objects. FIG. 7 showsan example interactive message comprising mechanical objects thatinclude two shoes that appear over a user's eyebrows. In this example,an indication of the interactive message may be displayed in a graphicaluser interface (GUI) 702 on a computing device. The indication may be ascreen that displays a name or other graphic of the interactive messagethat may be selected for viewing and to edit/interact with. In thisexample, an icon with a brand name (which can also include graphics) isshown and below the icon the name of the interactive message“[entity/product name] World Cup” is shown below the branded graphics.In the bottom portion of the screen, icons for other interactivemessages may be shown and a start icon is shown. A user can select thestart icon to view and interact with the interactive message. GUI 704shows an image of the user of the computing device that is captured by acamera device of the computing device and displayed in the GUI 704. Theimage or video of the user is displayed as part of the interactivemessage. The mechanical objects in the interactive message are two shoesthat appear on the eyebrows of the displayed user image. The GUI 704 maydisplay other branded information, such as a logo or entity/product name(e.g., branded graphics) in the interactive message and on the shoes(mechanical objects). The example interactive message of shown in FIG. 7may be a game where the user lifts her eyebrows to move the shoes andkick a ball back and forth using the shoes, as shown in GUI 706 and GUI708. The user may receive a number of points after playing the game, asshown in GUI 710.

The user may send the interactive message to a second user as shown inGUI 714. The computing device would also send usage data to the servercomputer associated with the computing device of the user and theinteractive message. The interactive message may appear on the computingdevice associated with the second user, as shown in GUI 714, and thesecond user may interact with the interactive message, as shown in GUI716.

FIG. 8 shows an example interactive message with a mechanical objectincluding a soccer ball. The interactive message may be branded, thesoccer ball may be branded, and so forth. This game may have a similarplay as shown in FIG. 7 where the user moves her eyebrows to bump thesoccer ball as if she was heading the soccer ball. The other GUIs andfunctionality in FIG. 8 are similar to that described above for FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 shows an example interactive message where mechanical objectsinclude a goalie and a ball. In this example, an image of a user's facemay be captured by the camera of the computing device and displayed asthe face of the goalie in the interactive message. The first screen andinteractive message may be branded, as described above. The user mayinteract with the interactive message to move the goalie to block thesoccer ball from going into the goal. The user may send the interactivemessage to a second user, as described above, and the second user mayinteract with the interactive message, as also described above.

FIG. 10 shows an example interactive message were a mechanical objectincludes a baker. In this example, an image of a user's face may becaptured by the camera of the computing device and displayed as the faceof the baker in the interactive message. The user can move the bakeraround the screen to catch the fries. A score for how many fires theuser caught may be displayed and the user may send the interactivemessage to a second user, as described above. The second user mayinteract with the interactive message, as also described above.

FIG. 11 shows an example interactive message where mechanical objectsinclude various characters in a dance party. In this example, anindication of the interactive message may be displayed in GUI 1102 on acomputing device. The indication may be a screen that displays a name orother graphic of the interactive message that may be selected forviewing and to edit/interact with. In this example, an icon with a brandname (which can also include graphics) is shown and below the icon thename of the interactive message “[entity/product name] Fries” is shownbelow the branded graphics. In the bottom portion of the screen, iconsfor other interactive messages may be shown and a start icon is shown. Auser can select the start icon to view and interact with the interactivemessage. GUI 1104 shows an image of the user of the computing devicethat is captured by a camera device of the computing device anddisplayed as a face of a first character in the interactive message. Theimage or video of the user is displayed as part of the interactivemessage. The GUI 1104 may display other branded information, such as alogo or entity/product name (e.g., branded graphics) in the interactivemessage an on the shoes (mechanical objects).

The user may send the interactive message to a second user as shown inGUI 1108. The computing device would also send usage data to the servercomputer associated with the computing device of the user and theinteractive message. The interactive message may appear on the computingdevice associated with the second user, as shown in GUI 1110, and thesecond user may interact with the interactive message by adding hisimage to a second character, as shown in GUI 1110. The second user maysend the interactive message to a third user as shown in GUI 1112. Thecomputing device would also send usage data to the server computerassociated with the computing device of the user and the interactivemessage. The interactive message may appear on the computing deviceassociated with the third user, as shown in GUI 1114. The third user mayadd her image to a third character in the interactive message, asdescribed above.

FIG. 12 shows an example interactive message where mechanical objectsinclude various players on a soccer team. Similar to the interactivemessage shown in FIG. 11, one or more users may add their image to aplayer in a soccer team.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a game played between two users P1(1302) and P2 (1304). A first user P1 1302 using a computing device 1310generates an interactive message by playing a game. The first user P11302 may then send 1312 the interactive message to a second user P21304. The second user P2 1304 receives the interactive message at asecond computing device 1314 and generates an interactive message 1316by playing the game. The second user P2 1304 may then send 1318 theinteractive message 1316 back to the first user P1 1302 (via the seconduser's device 1314).

FIG. 14 is a block diagram 1400 illustrating a software architecture1402, which can be installed on any one or more of the devices describedabove. For example, in various embodiments, client devices 110, serversystems 102, 112, 116, 118, 122, and 124 may be implemented using someor all of the elements of the software architecture 1402. FIG. 14 ismerely a non-limiting example of a software architecture, and it will beappreciated that many other architectures can be implemented tofacilitate the functionality described herein. In various embodiments,the software architecture 1402 is implemented by hardware such asmachine 1500 of FIG. 15 that includes processors 1510, memory 1530, andI/O components 1550. In this example, the software architecture 1402 canbe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer may provide aparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 1402includes layers such as an operating system 1404, libraries 1406,frameworks 1408, and applications 1410. Operationally, the applications1410 invoke API calls 1412 through the software stack and receivemessages 1414 in response to the API calls 1412, consistent with someembodiments.

In various implementations, the operating system 1404 manages hardwareresources and provides common services. The operating system 1404includes, for example, a kernel 1420, services 1422, and drivers 1424.The kernel 1420 acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware andthe other software layers, consistent with some embodiments. Forexample, the kernel 1420 provides memory management, processormanagement (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, andsecurity settings, among other functionality. The services 1422 canprovide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers1424 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware, according to some embodiments. For instance, the drivers 1424can include display drivers, camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH®Low Energy drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), WI-FI® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth.

In some embodiments, the libraries 1406 provide a low-level commoninfrastructure utilized by the applications 1410. The libraries 1406 caninclude system libraries 1430 (e.g., C standard library) that canprovide functions such as memory allocation functions, stringmanipulation functions, mathematic functions, and the like. In addition,the libraries 1406 can include API libraries 1432 such as medialibraries (e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation ofvarious media formats such as Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4),Advanced Video Coding (H.264 or AVC), Moving Picture Experts GroupLayer-3 (MP3), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR)audio codec, Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or JPG), or PortableNetwork Graphics (PNG)), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL frameworkused to render in two dimensions (2D) and in three dimensions (3D)graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite toprovide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g.,WebKit to provide web browsing functionality), and the like. Thelibraries 1406 can also include a wide variety of other libraries 1434to provide many other APIs to the applications 1410.

The frameworks 1408 provide a high-level common infrastructure that canbe utilized by the applications 1410, according to some embodiments. Forexample, the frameworks 1408 provide various graphic user interface(GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level locationservices, and so forth. The frameworks 1408 can provide a broad spectrumof other APIs that can be utilized by the applications 1410, some ofwhich may be specific to a particular operating system 1404 or platform.

In an example embodiment, the applications 1410 include a homeapplication 1450, a contacts application 1452, a browser application1454, a book reader application 1456, a location application 1458, amedia application 1460, a messaging application 1462, a game application1464, and a broad assortment of other applications such as a third partyapplication 1466. According to some embodiments, the applications 1410are programs that execute functions defined in the programs. Variousprogramming languages can be employed to create one or more of theapplications 1410, structured in a variety of manners, such asobject-oriented programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++)or procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language). In aspecific example, the third party application 1466 (e.g., an applicationdeveloped using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) byan entity other than the vendor of the particular platform) may bemobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™,ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating system. In thisexample, the third party application 1466 can invoke the API calls 1412provided by the operating system 1404 to facilitate functionalitydescribed herein.

Some embodiments may particularly include an interactive messagingapplication 1467. In certain embodiments, this may be a standaloneapplication that operates to manage communications with a server system,such as third-party servers or server system 108. In other embodiments,this functionality may be integrated with another application (e.g.,messaging application 1462). The interactive messaging application 1467may request and display various data related to messaging, mediacontent, media collections, media overlays, and so forth, and mayprovide the capability for a user to input data related to the systemvia a touch interface, keyboard, or using a camera device of machine1400, communication with a server system via I/O components 1150, andreceipt and storage of object data in memory 1130. Presentation ofinformation and user inputs associated with the information may bemanaged by the interactive messaging application 1467 using differentframeworks 1408, library 1406 elements, or operating system 1404elements operating on the machine 1500.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1500,according to some embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 15 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1500 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1516 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1500 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein can be executed. Inalternative embodiments, the machine 1500 operates as a standalonedevice or can be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines. In anetworked deployment, the machine 1500 may operate in the capacity of aserver machine 102, 112, 116, 118, 122, 124, and the like, or a clientdevice 110 in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 1500can comprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, a clientcomputer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, a netbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), anentertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, amobile device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), a smart homedevice (e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance,a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, or any machinecapable of executing the instructions 1516, sequentially or otherwise,that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1500. Further, whileonly a single machine 1500 is illustrated, the term “machine” shall alsobe taken to include a collection of machines 1500 that individually orjointly execute the instructions 1516 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

In various embodiments, the machine 1500 comprises processors 1510,memory 1530, and I/O components 1550, which can be configured tocommunicate with each other via a bus 1502. In an example embodiment,the processors 1510 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor,or any suitable combination thereof) include, for example, a processor1512 and a processor 1514 that may execute the instructions 1516. Theterm “processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 1510 thatmay comprise two or more independent processors 1512, 1514 (alsoreferred to as “cores”) that can execute instructions 1516contemporaneously. Although FIG. 15 shows multiple processors 1510, themachine 1500 may include a single processor 1510 with a single core, asingle processor 1510 with multiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor1510), multiple processors 1512, 1514 with a single core, multipleprocessors 1512, 1514 with multiple cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1530 comprises a main memory 1532, a static memory 1534, anda storage unit 1536 accessible to the processors 1510 via the bus 1502,according to some embodiments. The storage unit 1536 can include amachine-readable medium 1518 on which are stored the instructions 1516embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The instructions 1516 can also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 1532, within the static memory 1534,within at least one of the processors 1510 (e.g., within the processor'scache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during executionthereof by the machine 1500. Accordingly, in various embodiments, themain memory 1532, the static memory 1534, and the processors 1510 areconsidered machine-readable media 1518.

As used herein, the term “memory” refers to a machine-readable medium1518 able to store data temporarily or permanently and may be taken toinclude, but not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, and cache memory. While themachine-readable medium 1518 is shown, in an example embodiment, to be asingle medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken toinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storethe instructions 1516. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also betaken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that iscapable of storing instructions (e.g., instructions 1516) for executionby a machine (e.g., machine 1500), such that the instructions 1516, whenexecuted by one or more processors of the machine 1500 (e.g., processors1510), cause the machine 1500 to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium”refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, one or more datarepositories in the form of a solid-state memory (e.g., flash memory),an optical medium, a magnetic medium, other non-volatile memory (e.g.,erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)), or any suitablecombination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” specificallyexcludes non-statutory signals per se.

The I/O components 1550 include a wide variety of components to receiveinput, provide output, produce output, transmit information, exchangeinformation, capture measurements, and so on. In general, it will beappreciated that the I/O components 1550 can include many othercomponents that are not shown in FIG. 15. The I/O components 1550 aregrouped according to functionality merely for simplifying the followingdiscussion, and the grouping is in no way limiting. In various exampleembodiments, the I/O components 1550 include output components 1552 andinput components 1554. The output components 1552 include visualcomponents (e.g., a display such as a plasma display panel (PDP), alight emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), aprojector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g.,speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor), other signalgenerators, and so forth. The input components 1554 include alphanumericinput components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and force of touches or touch gestures, orother tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In some further example embodiments, the I/O components 1550 includebiometric components 1556, motion components 1558, environmentalcomponents 1560, or position components 1562, among a wide array ofother components. For example, the biometric components 1556 includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1558 includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 1560 include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensor components(e.g., machine olfaction detection sensors, gas detection sensors todetect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or to measurepollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that may provideindications, measurements, or signals corresponding to a surroundingphysical environment. The position components 1562 include locationsensor components (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receivercomponent), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometersthat detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication can be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1550 may include communication components 1564operable to couple the machine 1500 to a network 1580 or devices 1570via a coupling 1582 and a coupling 1572, respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1564 include a network interface component oranother suitable device to interface with the network 1580. In furtherexamples, communication components 1564 include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, near field communication (NFC) components, BLUETOOTH®components (e.g., BLUETOOTH® Low Energy), WI-FI® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1570 may be another machine 1500 or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)).

Moreover, in some embodiments, the communication components 1564 detectidentifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. Forexample, the communication components 1564 include radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detectioncomponents, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detecta one-dimensional bar codes such as a Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode, multi-dimensional bar codes such as a Quick Response (QR) code,Aztec Code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code,Uniform Commercial Code Reduced Space Symbology (UCC RSS)-2D bar codes,and other optical codes), acoustic detection components (e.g.,microphones to identify tagged audio signals), or any suitablecombination thereof. In addition, a variety of information can bederived via the communication components 1564, such as location viaInternet Protocol (IP) geolocation, location via WI-FI® signaltriangulation, location via detecting a BLUETOOTH® or NFC beacon signalthat may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the network 1580can be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a WI-FI®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, the network 1580 or a portion of the network 1580may include a wireless or cellular network, and the coupling 1582 may bea Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System forMobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellular orwireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 1582 can implement anyof a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as SingleCarrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized(EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology,Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, thirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generationwireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, othersdefined by various standard-setting organizations, other long rangeprotocols, or other data transfer technology.

In example embodiments, the instructions 1516 are transmitted orreceived over the network 1580 using a transmission medium via a networkinterface device (e.g., a network interface component included in thecommunication components 1564) and utilizing any one of a number ofwell-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP)). Similarly, in other example embodiments, the instructions 1516are transmitted or received using a transmission medium via the coupling1572 (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1570. The term“transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying the instructions 1516for execution by the machine 1500, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible media to facilitatecommunication of such software.

Furthermore, the machine-readable medium 1518 is non-transitory (inother words, not having any transitory signals) in that it does notembody a propagating signal. However, labeling the machine-readablemedium 1518 “non-transitory” should not be construed to mean that themedium is incapable of movement; the medium 1518 should be considered asbeing transportable from one physical location to another. Additionally,since the machine-readable medium 1518 is tangible, the machine-readablemedium 1518 may be considered to be a machine-readable device.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided forresources, operations, or structures described herein as a singleinstance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources,operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary,and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specificillustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality areenvisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presentedas separate resources in the example configurations may be implementedas a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures andfunctionality presented as a single resource may be implemented asseparate resources. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of thepresent disclosure as represented by the appended claims. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: generating, by a servercomputer, an interactive message comprising at least a first virtualmechanical object; updating the first virtual mechanical object with oneor more asset associated with branding for an entity; sending, by theserver computer, the generated interactive message to a plurality ofcomputing devices; and receiving, by a server computer from at least asubset of the plurality of computing devices, usage data comprising atleast one of a number of a number of computing devices to which theinteractive message was sent by each computing device and a number oftimes the interactive message was sent back and forth between one ormore computing devices.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage datafurther comprises data associated with interaction of the mechanicalobject in the interactive message.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theusage data further comprises a score associated with use of themechanical object.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating metrics of the interactive message from the usage data forthe interactive message.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:generating one or more reports based on the metrics for the interactivemessage.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive messagecomprises a first media content item generated by a first computingdevice and a second media content item generated by a second computingdevice.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the first mediacontent item and the second media content item is a video or image. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the first virtual mechanical object is acharacter and the image or video comprises a face of the user displayedas the character's face.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein an image orvideo of a user viewing the interactive message is displayed as part ofthe interactive message.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the entityis a first entity and wherein the method further comprises: retrievingassets associated with branding for a second entity; generating theinteractive message comprising the at least a first virtual mechanicalobject; updating the first virtual mechanical object with one or more ofthe assets associated with branding for the second entity; sending, bythe server computer, the generated interactive message to a plurality ofcomputing devices; and receiving, by a server computer from a at least asubset of the plurality of computing devices, usage data associated withinteraction by each computing device of the subset of computing deviceswith the interactive message.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein thegenerated interactive message is available for viewing for a limitedperiod of time.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the generatedinteractive message to a plurality of computing devices comprisessending the generated interactive message to a plurality of computingdevices located in a certain geographic location.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the usage data associated with the interactioncomprises a number of times the user interacted with the first virtualmechanical object by moving a body part or facial feature.
 14. A servercomputer comprising: a memory that stores instructions; and one or moreprocessor configured by the instructions to perform operationscomprising: generating an interactive message comprising at least afirst virtual mechanical object; updating the first virtual mechanicalobject with one or more asset associated with branding for an entity;sending the generated interactive message to a plurality of computingdevices; and receiving, from at least a subset of the plurality ofcomputing devices, usage data comprising at least one of a number of anumber of computing devices to which the interactive message was sent byeach computing device and a number of times the interactive message wassent back and forth between one or more computing devices.
 15. Theserver computer of claim 14, wherein the usage data further comprises atleast one of data associated with interaction of the mechanical objectin the interactive message and a score associated with use of themechanical object.
 16. The server computer of claim 14, wherein theinteractive message comprises a first media content item generated by afirst computing device and a second media content item generated by asecond computing device and wherein each of the first media content itemand the second media content item is a video or image.
 17. The servercomputer of claim 16, wherein the first virtual mechanical object is acharacter and the image or video comprises a face of the user displayedas the character's face.
 18. The server computer of claim 14, whereinthe generated interactive message is available for viewing for a limitedperiod of time.
 19. The server computer of claim 14, wherein the usagedata associated with the interaction comprises a number of times theuser interacted with the first virtual mechanical object by moving abody part or facial feature.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable by atleast one processor to cause a computing device to perform operationscomprising: generating an interactive message comprising at least afirst virtual mechanical object; updating the first virtual mechanicalobject with one or more asset associated with branding for an entity;sending the generated interactive message to a plurality of computingdevices; and receiving, from at least a subset of the plurality ofcomputing devices, usage data comprising at least one of a number of anumber of computing devices to which the interactive message was sent byeach computing device and a number of times the interactive message wassent back and forth between one or more computing devices.